Dong Thap is considered the country’s rice bowl thanks to its fertile alluvial soil, which is also suitable for cultivating short-term cash crops such as sugarcane, cotton, tobacco and soybeans.

Those visiting Dong Thap enjoy the tranquility of vast rice fields and orchards. Dong Thap is also home to numerous historical and cultural sites, including the relic of Nguyen Sinh Sac - Uncle Ho’s father - the war memorial, the Go Thap historic relic, the Xeo Quit revolutionary resistance base and the Tan Qui Dong bonsai village.

Dong Thap has immense cajuput forests, lotus ponds and primitive stock and bird sanctuaries. The 7,500-ha Tram Chim or Bird Sanctuary National Preservation Zone is famous internationally. More than 140 medicinal herbs, 40 species of fish and dozens of types of pythons, snakes and tortoises can be found in the zone. Among its hundreds of species of birds, many are endemic including pelican, white feather geese, wild ducks and redheaded cranes. The Gao Dong Cajuput Forest, considered a miniature of the Plain of Reeds, is also attractive destination.

“Gao Dong has been recognised the first ecological tourism site in the Plain of Reeds”, said Manager Tran Thanh Cong. “It offers a wide range of entertainment activities including sailing, fishing, listening to local Tai Tu singing and enjoying local delicacies.”

After touring the wetlands, visitors return to Sa Dec township to see examples of French architecture.

“Each house has its own story”, said Director of the Dong Thap Tourism company, Nguyen Thi Nga. “Foreign visitors, especially the French like to visit the house of Mr Huynh Thuy Le, the main male character in the novel “L’Amant” or “the Lover” by French, writer Marguerite Dumas. There is also the Parisian-style-villa of Doctor Giung, where much of “The Lover” was filmed.”

Mrs Nga said the Dong Thap Tourism Company will further develop tours to old houses, and plans to revive the Dumas’ story, a fictionalised account of her first love affairs while in Dong Thap.